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Old 03-16-2015, 10:45 AM
 
Location: Massachusetts
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Lowell, there are still pockets of Greek, French and other ethnic neighborhoods

Gloucester, vibrant Portuguese fishing community

Providence RI, intact Italian neighborhoods
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Old 03-16-2015, 02:03 PM
 
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Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade View Post
Irfox, genuine question, is Cape Verdean culture more like Portuguese than Brazilian? Me personally I feel like it is I feel like Cape Verdeans in Brockton have less in common with Portuguese in New Bedford than Brazilians in Framingham. Also I think New Bedford is rough around the edges but its currently teetering on mostly ghetto. I dont know about the older population but the young people and people moving into New Bedford seem to be much less pure Portuguese than Fall River. Young people there, who are the life blood of any city, see more Cape Verdean, Black, Dominican, Central American, mixed race..its actually quite cool and it creates a sort of culture more in line with Providence. However, I know the Portuguese influence is still strong but in my 3 times to New Bedford and everything Ive read or seen it seems pretty rough and noticeably less Portuguese in the sub 30 population.
New Bedford is dominated by Azores and Maderia Islands immigration. Those are both still part of Portugal. They're also physically much closer to Portugal. The Cape Verde islands went independent in 1975 and were a colony rather than a "state" where all residents are Portuguese/EU citizens.

New Bedford's problem is that chunks of it have become Section 8 ghettos. I hear the problem all the time from my 2nd & 3rd generation Portuguese friends (almost all with roots to the Azores). They grew up in working class owner-occupied multifamily home neighborhoods where everybody knew everybody. One of the tenament buildings goes Section 8. The barbarians move in and don't respect their neighbors. Soon, everybody is selling out to the Section 8 slum lords and the a former tight-knit neighborhood collapses. As metro-Boston gentrified with the soaring real estate prices, people in the Section 8 housing program were displaced to New Bedford. When I was a kid in the 1960's, New Bedford was Portuguese (Azores/Maderia) with pockets of pre-war 2nd & 3rd generation French Canadian and a bit of Polish in the North End. You really didn't see first generation people from anywhere else.

The more affluent people you tend to see out & about in New Bedford in a bar/club or restaurant are often 2nd & 3rd generation with parents or grandparents born in the Azores/Maderia. They grew up with the same US television everybody else did and are the same melting pot culture as the rest of us. The 3rd generation probably knows all the Portuguese swear words and happily eats the food but they consider themselves to be Americans.

The only places I've been to in North America with a distinctly European vibe are the old cities in Quebec City and Montreal.
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Old 03-17-2015, 06:42 PM
 
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Originally Posted by GeoffD View Post
The only places I've been to in North America with a distinctly European vibe are the old cities in Quebec City and Montreal.
I haven't been to Montreal but Quebec City without a doubt.

I would argue with Asia some Chinatowns can be a bit like it..KamMan is like going back.
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Old 03-19-2015, 10:53 AM
 
Location: Providence, RI
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Originally Posted by mdovell View Post
I haven't been to Montreal but Quebec City without a doubt.

I would argue with Asia some Chinatowns can be a bit like it..KamMan is like going back.
Quebec City is absolutely the most "European" feeling place I've been in North America. That being said, "European" is pretty vague as far as descriptions go. Dublin doesn't look or feel anything like Barcelona which looks and feels nothing like Moscow which looks and feels nothing like Naples. But Quebec City is definitely the closest thing to what I think we all assume a general "European" city looks/feels like.
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